Research indicates 60% growth in mobile advertising

South Africa dropped from 9th to 11th place in the quarterly rankings, compared to Q2, however South African traffic thus far is already 71% that of last year and by the end of the year is expected to equal 2010.

Dr KF Lai, CEO of BuzzCity explains that the South African audience remains attractive to advertisers, but the aggressive bidding of last year has cooled off, as prices became uncompetitive. "The pattern of aggressive bidding has moved with the many of international content players who have moved on to other markets. As a result, prices have remained stable for most of this year (USD 0.12 per click), but the last quarter saw fewer promotional activities by consumer products and brands."

Gap for local advertisers to fill

The price war for South African eyeballs may be over and there is a gap for local advertisers to fill. Dr Lai suggests that the purchasing power of the South African mobile user has been established. "At the current 12 US cents a click, this presents local content developers with an opportunity to take advantage.

"South Africa remains among the top earning markets for us and we expect the stability of prices will make planning easier for media buyers."

Internationally in the third quarter, the BuzzCity network grew by 11%, with the top 20 countries delivering 78% (26.2 billion) of all banners served. Moreover, demand for locally relevant content has led to increased publisher earnings in key markets.

Developing countries increase response

The BuzzCity Report, a quarterly summary of the trends and forces shaping mobile advertising, shows that in the third quarter of 2011, over 33.6 billion ad banners were delivered across the entire network of over 8100 publisher sites, to reach an average of over 300 million unique users per month.

Following the upward trajectory of the first half of 2011, five markets now deliver over one billion ads per quarter. India, Indonesia, the US and Vietnam are joined by a new entrant to the 'Billion Club', Brazil.

Among handset manufacturers, Nokia maintains top spot (52%) as the most popular handset brand for internet access, followed by BlackBerry in second place (11%) and Samsung (10%). This pattern is also repeated in South Africa where BlackBerry (16%) seems to have edged Samsung (12%) for the number two slot after Nokia(59%).

While the UK still tops the European chart, Central and Eastern Europe emerged this quarter with triple-digit growth for the year to date. Russia, Serbia, Albania, Hungary and the Czech Republic have all grown well, and critical mass appears to be developing to serve mobile content players.

Other notable growth hotspots include:

• Saudi Arabia, which secured a sixth successive quarter of growth and is a close contender for the Billion Club over the coming months. Mobile campaigns have been driven by demand for entertainment content.
  
• The UK, the only major market where BlackBerry dominates as the leading handset, with 71.7%. Campaigns here are driven by heavy promotion of apps.
  
• Poland, which saw a 69% increase in traffic this quarter, to reach a total of 370 million ads, compared with 98 million in the whole of 2010.
  
• Turkey, which now delivers more than 350 million banners per quarter. Traffic for the year to date has already more than doubled that of 2010.

"We're very pleased that in addition to traffic growth, mobile is also securing a bigger chunk of total adspend," said Dr KF Lai, CEO of BuzzCity. "Publishers in countries with higher bid rates, including Thailand, Indonesia, the US and the UK, now have the opportunity to continue to invest in quality content and locally relevant web services - to build user loyalty, and ensure ongoing earnings."

To access the full BuzzCity Report, including data on top mobile internet countries, analysis, trends and demographics, as well as a feature on how SMEs are taking advantage of mobile advertising, visit reports.buzzcity.com.